Christian Zapatka Architect

Customer Experience

Christian Zapatka Architect works out of a discreet white-painted brick townhouse at 3235 P Street NW, on the same short, cobblestone stretch of Georgetown as the neighborhood’s bookshop, dry cleaner, and tuxedo shop. There’s no showroom and no shop window — just a small sign reading Zapatka Architect beside a gated door and an iron-railed stoop. Fittingly, it reads like one of the historic Georgetown houses the firm spends its time reworking.

That’s because it’s a working design studio, not a storefront. The practice is small and architect-led, focused on residential work, and the way in is by inquiry rather than walking through the door — through the firm’s online contact form or a call to the studio. Clients come for a relationship and a custom design, not an off-the-shelf transaction.

Claim to Fame

The studio’s quiet exterior belies an unusually decorated résumé. Christian Zapatka studied at Georgetown University before earning his master’s in architecture at Princeton — where he won the Norton Prize and apprenticed with the architect Michael Graves — and went on to win the Rome Prize, becoming a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome. He taught at Princeton, Columbia, and the University of Michigan before establishing his own Washington firm in 1995, and he authored The American Landscape (Princeton Architectural Press), which won an AIA International Book Award.

The work itself centers on residential architecture across the Washington area — new houses, additions, and whole-house renovations — with a particular specialty in restoring Georgetown’s historic townhouses. The firm’s stated aim is to fuse modern and traditional design into “classic, timeless structures,” handling the interiors and the site alongside the architecture so a house sits lightly on its lot. That classical-meets-modern sensibility has drawn regional design press, including Home & Design, which named Zapatka a Top Designer.

Preparing for Your Visit

This is an inquiry-based studio, so start with a message rather than a drop-in. The firm doesn’t post hours or keep a public showroom; the way to begin is the contact form on its website or a call to (202) 333-2735 to talk through a project.

Fees aren’t published, which is standard for an architecture practice — scope, schedule, and cost get worked out per project once the firm understands what you’re trying to build. Expect a conversation about the house and the site rather than a price list.

If you do arrange to meet in person, note that this is a residential Georgetown block: street parking on P and Wisconsin is tight, and a garage in the Wisconsin Avenue or M Street corridor is the easier bet.